For the planned Trip to Morocco in OCT 2008, a Roof Rack is obviously
needed to carry all the extra gear we will need for the trip. There is so
many types of roof rack out there from companies like Hannibal, Safety
Devices, Patriot etc, however although they are all very nice bits of
equipment, they do command a big price tag. The roof rack you choose will
depend a lot on whether you intend to use a roof tent. I have decided not
to go for one of these as it adds a lot of extra weight "high" up and also
means I would of had to purchase one of the roof racks mentioned earlier.
This together with all the other equipment would add a significant amount
to the overland budget, somewhere in the region of £1200 - £1500 for rack
and tent

I spent a long time looking at all the types of
"aftermarket" rack out there, and I still could not make up my mind, I
even ventured into the possibility of "importing" the full length roof
hugging roof racks like what Safety Devices used to manufacture, this
however would have proven to costly as once you had added UK import and
VAT / Duty etc. So, I was back searching the UK again, places like Ebay
are a good start to give you some idea, I also stumbled across the Genuine
accessory cat for the discovery 2 ( in the downloads section) and in there
I found the Land Rover Expedition roof rack STC8830AA. I liked its size, how it
looked and how it fitted to the car. So eventually I got one at a good
price and here is what it looks like below. Its is powder coated in black
so it matches up with the other vehicle parts, has 6 mounting points that
position well over the strongest parts of the gutter at the B, C and D
pillars and a
full perimeter raised luggage rail. It comes as a kit and you can simply dis-assemble for easy storage.

The one important thing for me personally was the
fact I still wanted to be able to open the rear sunroof, this is quite
often not possible with other racks out there so this was a big factor in
my choice. Also, because I have added the Factory navigation system and
the Disco 2 GPS antenna was not available ,I used a Freelander GPS
whip style antenna
which is fitted to the front centre of the roof, I also wanted a rack that
would "avoid" that to. Before I bought this particular rack, I
did have a "half" length square section roof rack, although this was a
nice rack, It soon became obvious that it would not be big enough for
everything I wanted to put up there, plus i found it to produce quite a
lot of wind "howl" at higher speeds, where as this factory round section
rack seems to be a lot quieter. So overall I'm very pleased with how it looks and
fits, all I have to do now is work out what equipment goes where and start
to find ways to fix / lash it down to the rack, let the fun begin!! I will
update with more photos as I add more to the rack, including
roof lights,
6th spare wheel, fuel cans etc.